on the eve of the arrival of thier intended new home, a 180 Custom Aquariums build, I thought I might share a few things I have encountered and learned over the past several months.
First and biggest lesson...have the display tank up and running well before ordering the fish!
Not me, have had these guys for about 5 months so far. All living in a 40 breeder which has been ok but they tend to get bored easily and I would use a 55 with some rock in it if I had it to do over. In fact with the advent of the Hanna checker and it’s ability to give us much better control of our copper levels I will place rock in my next qt. This is hopefully a way to give the fish something to do , picking at the rock. I can add clams and mastic etc. to the rocks to encourage them to pick away.
My next lesson was to acquire med. size fish, not little guys. Though some might have success with small butterflies I had none at all. They simply don’t have any reserves built up yet so waste away quickly if they don’t take to food post haste. Let’s face it, they are tough buggers to get eating.
My first try was a pearlscale, raccoon, and latticed ,all small and none took to food soon enough to survive.
Second time around I purchased a pearlscale, latticed, dash dot, saddleback, Kline’s, raccoon and teardrop. All but the teardrop were med. size fish. The teardrop came in as a much bigger fish then the rest. These fish all had more meat to them so I had a bit more time to get them eating. The above picture gives you an idea the size difference. The raccoon is the smallest of all the fish.
I lost the latticed after about two weeks. It just never really ate well, even black worms. The rest did a bit better. I lost the pearlscale a month ago out of the clear blue. Just didn’t show for breakfast . Just lost the dash dot this morning, same thing, food hit the water and it didn’t make its usual appearance. No clue about the pearlscale but I believe the dot dash starved. At first it was a strong eater, frozen, worms and some flakes but with that small mouth and it’s desire to forage the bottom slowly it just slowly faded. I knew it was lighter of late but it still ate every meal till today.
So I have 4 left and all eat well. The raccoon just started eating flakes last week and really tears into then now. The Klein’s eats anything I throw in the tank and the teardrop, well let’s just say it’s a bit more selective but not as bad as the saddleback. Teardrop eats flakes and pellets and black worms but nothing else, period. Saddleback eats frozen and mostly the mysis out of it and nothing else. Not even black worms wiggling in front of it. It’s something to watch though as it attacker’s the food, literally strikes each piece with a thrash of its head as it does so. I still have hope it will eventually take to other foods. Second picture shows the saddleback and Klein’s. The Klein’s or Orange butterfly has been a good fish to have as it took right to frozen and I believe it’s enthusiasm for food helped encourage a few others to eat.
I think that’s enough for now as tomorrow will come early for me and this has gotten a bit long winded. I will add a bit more later on including my wish list for further additions to my butterfly collection.
Thanks and good night,
Jim
